March 2012, Movies #51-71

71. Night Moves (1976)

Rating: 6/10
Review: I didn't really feel like Hackman was completely there for this role, this is a mildly interesting thriller with a barely of age Melanie Griffith and James Woods on display.

70. Purple Rain (1984)

Rating: 5/10
Review: I was already a fan of the album before watching this, and I don't think I really was missing anything by not seeing the movie except that it introduced Apollonia and her amazing outfits to my personal fantasy world.

69. I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale (2009)

Rating: 8/10
Review: This doc starts with the amazing factoid that all 5 movies that John Cazale starred in all were nominated for Best Picture. This is an amazing watch that is all too short at an hour long but they interview pretty much everyone that Cazale appeared on screen and stage with and they all speak glowingly about him. Included quite a bit of his back story and life off the screen that I wasn't aware of before. Highly Recommended

68. A Cat in Paris (2010)

A Cat in Paris Trailer:

Rating: 7/10
Review: This movie is a great triumph of traditional non-cg animation, the shading/lighting techniques used here really makes every shot come alive with a warmth that few cg generated animated films have ever reached.

67. The Broken Tower (2011)

Rating: 5/10
Review: This covers a lot of similar territory that Howl covered minus the plot structure around a court case. I am a fan of James Franco but this was hard to sit through even for me, the best way to compare the two movies is that Howl is the movie a filmmaker would produce, but this movie is what a poet would produce in that its almost unwatchable. I was interested in seeing what part Michael Shannon would play when i looked at the credits, but he really only has cameo in that he has a few lines of dialogue and is only in a couple scenes, aka a waste of his talent.

66. The Grey (2011)

Rating: 7/10
Review: This is the first good movie that Carnahan has directed since Narc in 2002, and I'm happy to welcome him back from this drizzling fecal matter that were Smoking Aces and The A-Team. I really like polar survival stories and this no expection. While doing some research for the review I found out that I missed a scene after the end credits, so don't forget that if you happen to pick this one up. I did notice the casting director must have love the cancelled AMC show Rubicon which two of its cast members on the plane with Neeson.

65. Detachment (2011)

Rating: 6/10
Review: Where as Dangerous Minds is filled with Hollywood BS, this is a more realistic portrayel or teaching for a class I would have to assume. This movie is pretty bleak to say the least, but the cast for this is incredible. Tony Kaye must be well liked to get all these great character actors together for this small movie but its good to see Kaye starting to get back to slightly bigger films after the experience he had on American History X.

64. Metropia (2009)

Rating: 6/10
Review: Amazing photo realistic cg amalgamation, my only complaint is that this world is so grey sometimes that you lose some of the attention to detail they put into the atmospheric backgrounds. Vincent Gallo doesn't detract from the movie, and Alexander Skarsgard (Eric from True Blood) has a really good part in this also.

63. Westworld (1973)


Rating: 6/10
Review: This is basically the trail run for what Jurassic Park would be, the phrase "spared no expense" even pops up in this movie also. I kept thinking of the Simpons episode that parodies both movies at once while watching this. Also i was struck by how much young James Brolin looks like Christian Bale and with after a little google searching apparently I wasn't the first to think of this.

62. The Hunger Games (2012)

Rating: 5/10
Review: Now normally I wouldn't have touched this movie with a 10 foot pole but since Jennifer Lawrence is in it, and since my girlfriend is a rapid fan of the books I was pretty much fated to see this movie eventually. The whole time I was thinking about how I wanted to pick up that new Blu-Ray of Battle Royale that was just released, I'm sure thats why they the blu-ray release was timed so close to this movie's theatrical release.

61. The Comic (1969)

Rating: 6/10
Review: This movie covers some of the same themes that The Artist touches on, but in a much less interesting way. Even though I love the director Carl Reiner this was tough to get through.

60. Superman Batman Apocalypse (2010)

Rating: 3/10
Review: What a bait and switch, this should actually be titled the Supergirl and Wonder Woman movie because they are the main characters, and I have never been interested in either of them and this movie didn't change my viewpoint.

59. Batman Under The Red Hood (2010)

Rating: 6/10
Review: Can only really recommend this to hardcore Batmanites. I'm instantly skeptical of any animated Batman feature that doesn't feature Kevin Conroy, but since I know he is retiring soon from the role I'll have to get used to other people voicing him. Bruce Greenwood does a commendable job voicing the Batman role. I didn't like some of the character designs though, the Joker being the biggest eyesore, and The Black Mask character was a one of the few Batman villians that I wasn't familiar with before this movie, and his character is really just gangster caricature with no time is given to developing him beyond yelling at his underlings.

58. Game Change (2012)

Rating: 8/10
Review: If this movie had been release theatrically we would be talking about Julianne Moore getting Oscar buzz, but since it aired on HBO we'll only get Golden Globe mentions. I was completely surprised with how captivating this movie was and after watching it I felt it was sympathetic to Palin because Moore brings so much life to the role. The biggest draw back to this movie coming out is that it gives Palin relevancy again for people to put a microphone in her face, but hopefully this renewed interest in her will wain again....quickly. Highly Recommended

57. Across The Universe (2007)

Rating: 5/10
Review: I like the Beatles a lot, but I didn't really jive with this recreation of the songs. Works as music video but little else.

56. A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)

Rating: 7/10
Review: Good Woody Flick, and Gordon Willis shot it. You either love or hate Woody so I'm not really going to convert anyone by writing a longer review.

55. Freaknik: The Musical (2010)

Rating: 5/10
Review: Even though I can't stand T-Pain this was terrible, I guess I had unrealistic expectations because Cee-lo is in this and I had hoped it would reach the heights of the musical American Dad Hot Tub of Love episode, but alas it comes nowhere close and while watching this i just wanted to put that episode on again.

54. Rider on the Rain (1970)

Rating: 8/10
Review: Jim Morrison was inspired by this movie to write Riders on the Storm after seeing it, lyrics in that song make so much more sense now after seeing this movie because they refer to characters in the movie or different parts of the plot. The movie on its own is really interesting also.

53. The Sitter (2011)

Rating: 6/10
Review: This poster catches my attention more than the movie did. I like Jonah Hill but his character wasn't that interesting in the movie and I felt it was a little dull because of it. Sam Rockwell's drug lord character deserves it's own spin off movie. On a "David Gordon Green recent films scale", this movie was better than Your Highness but nowhere near Pineapple Express.

52. Electra Glide in Blue (1973)

Rating: 7/10
Review: Before Robert Blake was a real life maniac he actually had a few good movies under his belt, this ethereal motorcycle cop movie is highly watchable and falls in line with many of the great anti-hero movies of the 70's that have endings that take a hard right.

51. Bye Bye Birdy (1963)

Rating: 6/10
Review: Getting ready for the season 5 of Mad Men to premiere I've been re-watching the earlier seasons and due to this movie being referenced through a multi-episode story arc in season 3, I decided to check it out. Not the worst but not the best musical I've seen, I've been told that this Hollywood version really mangled the original musical with inclusion for more Ann Margaret.

Feburary 2012, Movies #46-50

50. The Five Year Engagement (2012)

Rating: 8/10
Review: Caught an advanced screening of this movie and really enjoyed it to bits. This movie strikes the perfect tone between all out comedy and complete melodrama, never getting too saccharine for it's own good. This is one of the few romantic comedies that actually portrays a realistic relationship which is so rarely the case in movies made in the studio system. Highly recommended.

49. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

Rating: 7/10
Review: Good revenge western that has been referenced in tons of movies. Kansas Jayhawkers are briefly mentioned as genocidal maniacs.

48. The Prince and The Showgirl (1957)

Rating: 4/10
Review: This is the movie they are shooting in "My Week with Marilyn" and that is the only reason why I put this on, while it's nice to see the sets and a few scenes that were depicted in the contemporary film this movie is dreadfully boring and wouldn't have been of note at all otherwise.

47. Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)

Rating: 7/10
Review: Enjoyable animated superheros save the Earth movie, but I didn't enjoy how much of the Green Lantern origin story was crammed into this.

46. Genius Party Beyond (2008)

Toujin Kit segment from Genius Party Beyond:

Rating: 7/10
Review: Anime short story compilation film. I really enjoyed most of the segments with Toujin Kit being my favorite that I posted above.

Feburary 2012, Movies #36-45

45. The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai (1984)

Rating: 6/10
Review: While I know my dad loves this movie for a zany 80's space camp time, but personally I prefer The Ice Pirates to this movie but this one is fun also.

44. Puss In Boots (2011)

Rating: 7/10
Review: I was really surprised that I ended up liking this quite a bit, even though there is a little too much dancing, this isn't the crass annoying ride that I was expecting from a movie spun off the Shrek world. Zach Galifianakis practically has the lead role in this.

43. My Week With Marilyn (2011)

Rating: 7/10
Review: Michelle Williams really saves this movie with her performance, otherwise this is an average backstage drama with a great cast. Blink and you'll miss Emma Watson, I'm not saying her part should have been bigger but they should have cast a less known actress in the role because it's really distracting to see her used so sparingly.

42. Genius Party (2007)

Review: Anime short story compilation film. This was a lot of fun but the last segment was directed by the creator of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, but its about two school kids realtionship together (aka not an action story) and isn't really what I wanted when hearing that his name was attached to do a short film.

41. Battle Angel (1993)

Rating:5/10
Review: The only reason I watched this was because for years this was the next project James Cameron was developing a live action adaptation film of, but Avatar moved to the front of his attention and the rest is history. Still hard to imagine what Cameron would do with this but would love to see it, can't really recommend this anime but I've heard the manga that it was adapted from told the story better.

40. Fire and Ice (1983)

Trailer:

Rating:6/10
Review: Rotoscoped animation is something not really seen at all anymore because of the advent of motion capture but it does produce a unique image at the very least, but there isn't much to the plot of this fantasy piece so the animation takes center stage and kind of suffers because of it. The frame rate on the rotoscoping animation is probably 10/15 frames a second which doesn't make for the most visually pleasing watch. Fun to be aware of this movie existing but probably nothing I'll revisit anytime soon.

39. Dead Leaves (2004)

Dead Leaves Trailer:

Rating:7/10
Review: Even though this movie has a hyper-kinetic pace, it has a nice amnesia plot that unravels nicely. Animation goes by at a mile a minute.

38. 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007)

Trailer:

Rating: 7/10
Review: While the story of two teenager lovers separated by long distances resulting in lots of train riding through out isn't a typical anime story that I would care about, but the animation techniques used explode the images off the screen.

37. Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010)

Rating: 8/10
Review: This doesn't really have anything to do with the first movie other than the setting of Rio and the story of corruption in the Rio police forces so it's not necessary that you have seen the first movie. Really tough cop movie that easily out classes any American cop film since The Departed.

36. The Perfect Weapon (1991)

Trailer:

Rating: 5/10
Review: This movie is a camp classic. The foley work on this movie also is insane, the punch repetition by the main character sounds like he's shooting a machine gun. A good time will be had if you need a good dose of 90's action movie camp.

Feburary 2012, Movies #25-35

35. Tokyo Drifter (1966)

Trailer:

Rating:5/10
Review: I know this movie is consider a classic for it's style, but honestly I almost nodded off watching it and that's something I never do. Maybe this will need a revisit from me in a few years.

34. Gandahar (1987)

Trailer:

Rating:8/10
Review: Just as amazing as Rene Laloux's previous two efforts. Must see for all animation aficionados. Highly Recommended

33. Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)

Rating:4/10
Review: Poorly done rehash of one of the segments from the original Heavy Metal, don't waste your time with this sequel and just watch the original.

32. In Time (2011)

Rating:7/10
Review: I enjoyed how well executed the premise was even if a little goofy but ultimately a lot of fun. Timberlake is definitely not the problem with the movie, the problem is that this story is lifted directly from an Ellison short story and no credit was given but plagiarism claims have dogged Andrew Niccol since The Truman Show. There really is a mega-flop type stink that this movie has a reputation for already but it's definitely not that.

31. Underworld Awakening (2012)

Rating:5/10
Review: Um, it was less than 90 minutes and has Kate Beckinsale in leather...those are about the only positive things I can really say about it.

30. Rio (2011)

Rating:6/10
Review: While this wasn't a bad movie, nothing was really special about it either. A few days after watching I had almost forgotten I had seen this which means nothing stuck with me.

29. Time Masters (1984)

Time Masters Trailer:

Rating: 8/10
Review: I love Rene Laloux. His previous movie Fantastic Planet is something that must be seen to be believed. Here Laloux returns with a slightly more evolved animation style and the movie is a little easier to follow than Fantastic Planet and I enjoyed it just as much. All Laloux is a must see. Highly Recommended


28. Memories (1995)

Memories Trailer:

Rating: 7/10
Review: Anime short story compilation film. My favorite shorts are a tie between Stink Bomb and Magnetic Rose.

27. Neo Tokyo (1989)

"The Running Man" segment from Neo Tokyo:

Rating: 7/10
Review: Anime short story compilation film. My favorite short is one that I had been introduced to through Liqiud Television on early 90's MTV, its called The Running Man about a futuristic racing league. I found it on youtube and posted it above.

26. Mad Dog and Glory (1993)

Rating: 6/10
Review: This movie has aged horribly, and has an unintended camp factor to it in that some of the acting is over the top also. It didn't help that during this stage in the late 80's early 90's that every movie seems to have been shot as flat as possible also so its visually uninteresting also. Uma in her early prime on display here.


25. The Rum Diary (2011)

Rating: 7/10
Review: While this can't really compare to Fear and Loathing as a movie, I think that probably lies with the source material being less interesting than Fear and Loathing. Still I found this movie enjoyable and it's good to see Johnny still do a passion project like this between blockbusters.

January 2012, Movies #1-24

24. Take Shelter (2011)
Rating: 8/10
Review: I love Michael Shannon and I've been following his career closely since Bug, and while Shannon seems to play a borderline crazy person in all of his roles this one has a more complete picture of his descent to madness than the others. Stick around for the end.


23. Hugo (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: This movie is a lot of fun even though Chloe Moretz seems to have been given direction for a different movie that's more whimsical than Hugo.


22. The Driver (1978)
Rating: 6/10
Review: Completely unrelated to the Ryan Gosling movie that came out last year, this is another Walter Hill flick I caught up on. Gosling and O'Neils main characters are both stoic and feature sparse dialogue, but what really separates the films is style, and the Gosling version has oodles more. Nothing really new here, but still has the 70's style and vibe going for it but it's a lesser movie to the contemporary counterpart.


21. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005)
Rating:6/10
Review: This is the third best movie in the Vengeance trilogy, didn't enjoy the build up to the finale as much the other films.


20. The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: David Fincher is hands down my favorite director working in film today, he brings his unique vision to every film that he touches. But I feel like this is the first outing where this movie could have really been done by a cadre of current directors. When I heard this was going to be made I skipped the novel and original film to take this in as entirely its own property, don't get me wrong the story is really good I just had greater expectations. I'm hoping Fincher doesn't get locked in to directing the next two films.


19. The Artist (2011)
Rating: 9.5/10
Review: Growing up I always had an appreciation for Buster Keaton and all silent films because of my parents keen interest in them, so this movie really hit my nostalgia sweet spot. Also having been a big fan of the actor/director's preview two collaborations I felt the two of them grew exponentially with this picture. To really understand and appreciate the movie you have to know a little bit about the history of the silent era to get more out of it.


18. Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989)
Rating: 6.5/10
Review: Because of the low budget this movie hasn't aged well at all, but the brutal story still gets the point across but it's let down by the rest of the melodrama that takes over the film. I wouldn't mind seeing a remake of this done because there is plenty of room for improvement. Check this for a really young Stephen Lang (the general from Avatar).


17. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
Rating: 8/10
Review: Great story of kidnapping that spirals out of control, this is just behind Oldboy for me in the Vengeance trilogy.


16. Happy Feet 2 (2011)
Rating: 5/10
Review: So if you have Brad Pitt and Matt Damon add to the cast for this sequel how would you as a screenwriter/casting director have utilized them? Made them microscopic krill that exactly parallel Mumbles journey from the first film and never interact with the main characters? Of COURSE! Why didn't I think of that? Because it's a terrible idea and the movie entirely loses focus once they are introduced, as a fan of the first one I was completely blown away by how lifeless this one seemed in comparison.


15. Streets of Fire (1984)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Another Walter Hill flick but this bit of revisionist nostalgia is a camp classic and still enjoyable today. In her prime Diane Lane is also something to behold, but this goofy movie is well worth it.


14. 48 hrs (1982)
Rating: 6/10
Review: Eddie's first movie has sure seen better days, this hasn't aged very well at all and Nick Nolte doesn't really redeem his bigoted cop character even by the end of the movie. I know we've all caught parts of this being replayed on cable tv, but this movie is a hard R and your not really seeing the movie at all if you've only seen the tv cable edit.


13. I Saw The Devil (2010)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Really enjoyed this revenge film, takes quite a few twists and turns that keeps everything moving at a brisk pace.


12. Southern Comfort (1981)
Rating: 6.5/10
Review: Another one of the Walter Hill films i hadn't seen, this movie has a lot of familiar faces that fill up the cast of character actors. Good survival movie, even though it pales to the comparison of Deliverance which the poster name checks.


11. Howl (2010)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Well done animated sequences help give the prose a new life, I definetly got a renewed interest in Ginsberg after watching this.


10. Hard Times (1975)
Rating: 6.5/10
Review: Standard street boxer movie, what drew me to this movie was my need to fill out my lack of knowledge of Walter Hill's movies.


09. Tinker, Tailer, Solider, Spy (2011)
Rating: 8/10
Review: Expertly crafted but I feel like the majority of people viewing this will be put off with the pacing of the movie, which is at a crawl the majority of the time so we can keep up to pace with the different agents and agencies that are at play here. Give it time and due attention and it's going to pay off for you.


08. Due Date (2010)
Rating: 6.5/10
Review: For some reason I had skipped this one when it came out initially even though I'm a big Zach fan and wanted to see this duo's on screen chemistry. This movie is a good mainstream distraction that achieves a modicum of success but isn't anything revelatory that hasn't been seen before.


07. The Future (2011)
Rating: 5/10
Review: Being a fan of Miranda July's previous film I waited intensely for the years long hiatus to end and what I ended up with was this, while there are a few good ideas here and there it doesn't really tie together nearly as well as her previous film.


06. The Beaver (2011)
Rating: 8/10
Review: This is a love it or hate it type movie I have found out. I was able to greatly sympathize with the characters because of events in my own life that mirrored some of theirs and I didn't feel like this movie was put together haphazardly at all but rather very well thought out. I still don't like Mel Gibson as a person but his on screen portrayal in this movie shined through for me and I was able to exist solely in the world of this film.


05. The Adventures of Tin Tin (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: With this movie Spielberg has shown that he can still direct an Indiana Jones like adventure if he has a good screenplay under him that wasn't tainted by George Lucas. With each motion capture movie they seem to make leaps and bounds in the animation and this movie is definitely the best of any of the motion capture animated movies so far.


04. The Skin I Live In (2011)
Rating: 9/10
Review: Highly recommended viewing, Almodovar doesn't do horror movies but this is as close as he has ever gone with it. Not a typical Almodovar and that's a very good thing.


03. Warrior (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: I typically don't get into a lot of sports movies but this has Tom Hardy in it so that alone for me was worth the price of admission. I ended up enjoying this feel good film quite a bit but it felt a bit overlong with 20mins needing to be removed but it doesn't take that much away from the film.


02. Crazy Stupid Love (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: I went into this with pretty low expectations because I loath most rom-com material, but this movie really elevates itself above the rest with a well written script where for once in a rom-com we can understand the motivations of each character. And while the trailers may sell this as a Ryan Gosling movie, Carrell is the main character.


01. The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
Rating: 8/10
Review: Really enjoyed this slow burning tale of love and revenge. The pacing is very deliberate but have faith because it all wraps up nicely.